Pixel 2 XL hands-on: the best Android phone just got better

To be upfront: I love the Google Pixel. Over the past year, during which I've tried the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8, the HTC U 11, the OnePlus 5, and the Nokia 8, to name but a few, it's the Pixel I've gone back to. Maybe it's because of the stock Android experience (the swift updates certainly help), or the camera that takes consistently brilliant photos (so much so, I left the point-and-shoot at home on a recent trip to Japan). Maybe it's because, no matter how hard other smartphones try, there's always a niggle or two that ruins them.

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Which is not to say the Pixel is perfect, far from it. The Pixel sports a design only the most hardened of Google fans can love, and battery life that just barely scrapes by as useable. The Pixel 2 with its five-inch 1080p OLED display and almost identical design to the original Pixel certainly doesn't solve those problems. But the Pixel 2 XL? Now that's an improvement.

The Pixel 2 XL, like most flagship smartphones of 2017, features a super-bright and wide colour gamut six-inch 18:9 OLED display (at 538PPI) that stretches across the face of the phone, shrinking the chunky bezels that have defined the smartphone since the launch of the original iPhone. It looks fantastic, and while not as slick as the Samsung Galaxy S8 thanks to a subtler curve along the display's glass edges, looks far more modern than its predecessor.

If the design of the Pixel 2 XL looks strangely familiar, that's because it's based on the LG G6, which launched in April. Google has added its own little touches, though, including front-facing stereo speakers, a glass "visor" on the rear in black glass, and a fingerprint sensor in a comfortable position below the rear-facing camera. There's a power button, in red for added bling, along with volume and a sim card slot.

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The power button is coloured red for added bling.

Mark Walton

What isn't on the Pixel 2 XL is a headphone jack. This is a major annoyance. One of the few phones this year that I enjoyed as much as the Pixel is the HTC U 11. However, the USB-C dongle it included constantly fell out, or got lost, or broke. I went through three before giving up and moving back to the Pixel. Removing the headphone jack isn't courageous. It's forced obsolescence at the expense of convenience and it needs to stop.

OK, rant over. Back to the good stuff. Unlike the iPhone 8, the backs of the Pixel XL 2 and Pixel 2 are made out of aluminium. They're IP67 water resistant too. I've lost count of the number of times that I've dropped the original Pixel, only for it suffer a small dent. Glass backs, despite what manufacturers might say, are more fragile than aluminium. The trade-off is there's there no wireless charging, but Google claims you can fast charge a Pixel 2 XL for up to seven hours of use in just 15 minutes.

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The glass "visor" is much more attractive this time around.

Mark Walton

On the software side, there's a new Android launcher, exclusive to the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, that moves the Google search bar to the bottom of the home screen, which makes it easier to access. You can squeeze the phone too, just like the HTC U 11, to activate Google Assistant or to take selfie. It's a great feature that works well — I suspect other phone-makers will copy it in no time.

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Internally, both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are powered by a Snapdragon 835 SoC, 4GB of RAM, and a come with either 64GB or 128GB of storage (there's no SD card slot for later expansion). Both also feature a single 12.2MP rear camera with a wide f/1.8 aperture, optical image stabilisation, and HDR+. The original Pixel camera remains one of the best on the market, but Google has made some noticeable improvements to the cameras on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL thanks to machine learning.

Google Lens is a great feature.

Mark Walton

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A preview version of Google Lens, exclusive to the Pixel, allows you to use Google's extensive machine learning service in the cloud to identify films, books, music, people, and places, simply by pointing the Pixel 2's camera at an object. I tried it on a photo of Tower Bridge and sure enough it brought up a bunch of useful information, including links to the location on Maps. Google claims Lens is now 95 percent accurate, which, if true, is impressive stuff.

Machine learning is also used to create depth of field portrait affects using just a single camera lens, instead of the dual-lens systems of other phones. It even works on the front facing camera. Again, this feature works surprisingly well. Typically, after-the-fact depth-of-field can look artificial, but Google's machine algorithms do a fine job, creating soft backgrounds without harsh edges around in-focus objects.

There are so-called AR stickers too, which allows you to add 3D objects to photos and have them interact with each other. The Stranger Things objects, included a chibi-like version of Seven, are a neat novelty, but much like Apple's Animoji I doubt anyone will find a long-term use for them. The same goes for motion photos — which captures three seconds of video when you take a photo — a feature that both HTC and Apple have implemented in the past to tepid reception.

The smaller Pixel 2 (right) next to the author's OG Google Pixel.

Mark Walton

Still, whatever photos you take — including any AR-related ones — are automatically uploaded to Google Drive with unlimited storage at full resolution for free, which is a nice touch.

Also neat is a Shazam-like feature that automatically identifies any music that's playing, without the need to open up an app or even use a data connection. The song simply appears on the always-on standby screen. Even in the ludicrously loud demo room at the Google event, the Pixel XL 2 was able to pick out every song that played with 100 percent accuracy. Google says the machine learning data required to identify music is stored locally on the phone, so it'll be interesting to see whether the feature can be tripped up.

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The biggest downside to the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 — aside from the lack of a headphone jack — is the price. At £629 for a 64GB Pixel 2, £729 for 128GB Pixel 2, £799 for a 64GB Pixel 2 XL and a whopping £899 for a 128GB Pixel 2 X, these are not cheap phones. Then again, they offer what other phones can't: a clean software experience with regular updates and one of the best, if not the best, cameras on any smartphone.

Pixel 2 is available for pre-order now and on sale and in store from 19 October, on Google Store, EE and Carphone Warehouse. Pixel 2 XL is also available for pre-order now and on sale and in store from 15 November.